The exterior is that of a fortress. Its intention is proclaimed by the buttresses rising from the glacis of the base to form, as it were, flanking towers; by the arrangement of the bays, or rather curtains, crowned by an embattled machicolated parapet, which unite these towers, and by the grandiose military character of the architecture. The formidable aspect of the building is much enhanced by the western tower, in effect a donjon keep, completing the system of defence by its connection with the fortifications of the archbishop's palace, which in their turn are carried on to ramparts, crowning the escarpments which, to the north, rise from the Tarn.[21]
[21] See "Civil Architecture," Part IV. chap. ii.
A few fortified churches still exist—such, for example, as Les Stes. Maries (Bouches du Rhone), which dates from the thirteenth century. Albi was not a solitary instance of this usage. The Churches of Béziers, Narbonne, and many others of the thirteenth and fourteenth century had been surrounded by defensive outworks rendered necessary by religious strife. The buildings thus transformed into strongholds served the further purpose of sheltering fugitive populations in times of panic.
One of the most interesting of such examples is the Church of Esnandes, not far from Rochelle, on the creek of Aiguillon, a building which dates from the twelfth century. It was fortified at the beginning of the fifteenth century to resist the incursions of the English.
74. CHURCH OF ESNANDES (CHARENTE INFÉRIEURE). A FORTIFIED CHURCH OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY
As we have already remarked on the authority of a learned writer, the buildings of the fifteenth century are less numerous than those of the fourteenth. Those concerned in such undertakings were content to finish churches begun at an earlier period, or to attempt their reconstruction, frequently on plans which it was impossible to carry out, so that many buildings were left incomplete. We may instance a very famous monument, the Abbey of Mont St. Michel. The Romanesque choir fell into ruins in 1421, during the Hundred Years' War. In 1452 Cardinal Guillaume d'Estouteville undertook the reconstruction of the church on a scale so considerable that the choir only was completed during the
first years of the sixteenth century.[22] This part of the church shows the effect of the decadence of which there had been indications so early as the close of the thirteenth century. Certain of the arrangements are very ingenious, notably that of the triforium, which rests on the reins of the lower vault, and forms, as seen from outside, a series of small apses standing out from the main wall. But the mason's work is negligent, especially in the flying buttresses, which were so carefully treated by the architects of the thirteenth century. The lines are attenuated by a multiplicity of mouldings to an almost threadlike slenderness; the spring of the arches is undefined by capitals, and the complicated network of the fenestration adds to the wire-drawn effect, and further diminishes the proportions of the building. There is little to admire but the extreme manual dexterity of the carvers. The carving of the granite, the only stone used at Mont St. Michel[23] save for the arcadings of the cloister, is very remarkable, as is also the ornamental sculp
ture; this is executed with extreme skill, in spite of the excess of detail with which it is loaded.
[22] Description de l'Abbaye du Mont St. Michel et des ses Abords, by Ed. Corroyer; Paris, 1877.
[23] See Part II., "Monastic Architecture."
